Risk Management

Risk Management. What is it?

When it comes to risk you can either retain, defer, reduce, or eliminate it.

For example, deciding to host a wedding would be a form of retaining the risk. Requiring the wedding party to purchase event insurance, would be an example of deferring the risk. Deciding to only host weddings for your congregation, would be a way of reducing risk, and not hosting weddings at all, would be an example of eliminating the risk.

Risk Management focusses mainly on the reduction of risk, but it deals with all four categories of the management of risk. Insurance is both a form of transference of risk and reduction of risk. Since insurance always has a limit to what it will pay, it doesn’t necessarily protect you against all the risk you may face in the future. But it does reduce how much you would have to pay in the case of a claim.

As an example, if you have $1,000,000 per occurrence liability coverage and there is a settlement of $1,250,000 against you, then you will be responsible for the $250,000 that is above your coverage limit.

The one thing that Risk Management can do that insurance cannot, is eliminate the risk from happening at all. An example of this, would be making sure that wet spots on a floor are quickly mopped and dried. That action eliminates the risk of slips and falls from happening in the first place. Insurance can only respond after the fact when an incident has already happened.

Another example of eliminating risk is when all the facilities are kept on a rigid maintenance schedule that includes periodic fire, electric and HVAC systems inspections. All these activities eliminate the possibility of mechanical or functional failure. Keeping a roof maintained and repaired cannot stop wind damage from happening, but it does eliminate functional failure of the roof, which is not covered by any insurance.

The same applies to Risk Management of the children’s ministries. A well-written Child Protection Plan that includes background checks, reference checking, and waiting periods, can go a long way to keeping assailants out of the children’s ministry in the first place.

Whether you’re focused on your organization’s employees, volunteers, or congregation, there are tools to help you transform your ministry.

Some of the areas of concern are as follows:

• Starting a Safety Ministry
• Buildings & Grounds Safety
• Child & Youth Safety
• Employee & Volunteer Safety
• Financial Safeguards
• Emergency Preparedness
• Transportation Safeguards

To receive more information about each of these subjects, you can call or email us, and we can send you updated information concerning these area of interest for your organization.